SETTING THE SCENE

The Oklahoma City Thunder go for their 12th win in 11 tries as they travel to the California capital to play the Sacramento Kings.

Russell Westbrook is could play tonight. He’s a game-time decision.

The Kings beat the Thunder back on Oct. 21. It was a 131-120 win for Sacramento in Russell Westbrook’s first game back.

Oklahoma City beat the Suns 110-100 on Monday night. The Thunder has won 10-of-11 games for the first time since January and February of 2016.

FOLLOWING THE ACTION

You can catch the radio on Oklahoma City’s WWLS, 98.1 FM. Matt Pinto will be your play-by-play voice. If you’re in Tulsa, catch it on 1450 AM.

Chris Fisher and Michael Cage call the game on the Thunder’s flagship station, Fox Sports Oklahoma. You can watch the game there, catch it on NBA League Pass, or use the Fox Sports App (If you’re in Oklahoma).

Tonight’s game is also the late game on NBATV for those who aren’t able to watch it on FS Oklahoma.

SCOUTING THE KINGS

The Sacramento Kings went 27-55 last season, 12th in the Western Conference.

This season, the Kings are horrible defensively, giving up 123 and 149 in their first two games of the season.

Oklahoma City is 145-87 all-time against the Kings.

Since relocation, the Thunder are 29-9 against Sacramento.

When the Thunder play at home, they’re 17-2 all-time against the Kings.

In their last 10 games, they’re 6-4 overall.

When the last 10 are in Sacramento, the Thunder are 12-7. They’re 4-4 since the 2014-15 season.

INJURY REPORT:
Kosta Koufos (hamstring) is out.

The Thunder’s largest margin of victory over Sacramento came on Feb. 15, 2011, where Oklahoma City prevailed by a score of 126-96 (30-point margin of victory).

Meanwhile, the Thunder’s largest margin of defeat (21 points) vs. the Kings occurred during an 104-83 loss on Jan. 7, 2015.

THUNDER INJURY REPORT

Andre Roberson (ruptured patellar tendon) is out

Russell Westbrook (personal) is a game-time decision.

Alex Abrines (illness) is out.

Terrance Ferguson (personal) is out.

NEXT UP

Oklahoma City will be the bay area to play the struggling Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

The Thunder play back-to-back games against the Hornets and Nuggets on Black Friday weekend.

They’ll wrap up the month against Cleveland on the 28th and the Hawks on the 30th.

WHAT’S IN A NAME

The Kings’ royal lineage stretches all the way back to the founding of the National Basketball League’s Rochester Royals in 1945.

Originally, the Kings were known as the Seagrams, you know the alcohol maker. That was the nickname of the Sacramento Kings, way back in the day (1923) when they were the Rochester Seagrams.

In 1945, a 15-year old by the name of Richard Paeth won an essay contest to name team.

The Royals retained their nickname after a move to Cincinnati in 1957 and became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings (soon dropping the Omaha) through a name-the-team contest in 1972.

The name remained unchanged when the franchise relocated to California in 1985.

Also, fun fact: Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce Jenner was drafted in the seventh round by the Kansas City Kings in 1977.

Three Keys to the Game

Defend

The Kings shot 55 percent from the field and almost 47 percent from beyond the three-point line. If the Thunder are going to win another one, they’ll defend much better than they did last month. Oklahoma City needs that to happen. They haven’t do anything as bad as they did on that night.

Free throws

Oklahoma City is slowly moving up the rankings. They went from 30th to 27th over the last couple of weeks. The Kings (30th) are worse. If the Thunder take care of their free throws, they’ll have a good opportunity to win this. If they come out and struggle like they did last time, missing 11 free throws, they’ll be 0-2 vs. the Kings.

Bench

With no Westbrook once again, it’s up to Schroder and Co. to step up. The bench is averaging only averaging 31.2 points per game. It feels like the Thunder’s bench has been better than the numbers say. Oklahoma City’s bench should step up once again despite the low numbers, and provide a quality product for the Thunder.